'Obsolete' technology that you remember using.

[somedarnguy]

8 Track tapes
telnet
PC-DOS
Party lines

 

[wordsmith]

Cassette tapes and Floppy disks mainly... I still find it really weird that in a few years, blowing in cartridges will become forgotten DIY repair, like rewinding a tape with a pencil. I was actually talking about it with a mate of mine the other day.

My heart sunk when his 9 year old little brother asked "What's a floppy disk?"

 

[Sacman]

Beta Max and Walkman...

 

[Rainforce]

Split-screen multiplayer?

Even older: Split-screen multiplayer for MORE than 2 players?

yes.

and I remember games that used CDs AND floppy disks. totally impossible these days.
(at least where I live I can only get PCs with cardreaders instead of a FDD)

oh and......dos and WIN 3.1

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Records, Colecovision, Teddy Ruxpin...

 

[Gaderael]

Damn, the first didn't show up after a few refreshes... I will think of something else for this spot

EDIT: MP3 players? iPod's seem to be what everyone uses now. I don't actually know anyone who doesn't have one except me. I like my humble little MP3 player. It does all the same stuff just without annoying slow iTunes or a shiny ego-building Apple logo.

The iPod is an MP3 player. Also, most MP3 players today have all the features that come with the iPod.

Now, if you were refering to the old style MP3 players that were like Discmans, where you had to burn off your music to disc to listen to it, then you can ignore my previous rambling.

OT: Well, I guess the MP3 player Discmans, the Discman, the Walkman. Hmm, oh yeah, our behemouth Betamax player. The old Laserdisc player we had in school. Dial up modems, with that really annoying screeching sound that they also used at the end of the SG-1 credits.

 

[SpaceSpork]

I still use VHS. Those things are fuckin' awesome.

 

[digipinky75910]

My first game system was an atari.

I remember DOS! I remember having a test-based computer game.

I still use a VHS because I don't have a proper DVD recorder yet. I mean seriously, I can fit 6-8 hours on a VHS, only 2 hours on dvd! I remember going to the video store and having to remember not to rent BETA.

I had a record player when I was little.

I remember having 8-tracks.

Ah, dot-matrix printers. You could never print at night or you'd wake up the neighborhood. People making banners for special events and things.

I remember using card catalogs with cards.

Yes, I got the tape recording device from Home Alone 2. Never worked as well as the movie though.

I still buy music cds too.

I still own a computer on XP and ME.

I think my dad bought or used Zip technology... for about a week...

 

[Talshere]

An Apple Mac.

OOO yeah I went THERE!!!

 

[Wardnath]

Windows 95, with Abe's Oddysee, the original Age of Empires and Battlezone.

I somehow got it to crash when I was 5. XD

I also got a Nintendo 64 in 1999, which I play regularly to this day.

Oh, and VHS tapes. I remember owning some Beast Wars tapes. God, that was awesome.

 

[Wardnath]

VHS,Cassette's,Portable CD player, Portable Cassette Player, Windows 98, Floppy Disks.

Rewinding was painful.

Ehhh... I dunno, I didn't find rewinding THAT bad.

 

[Delock]

I remember VHS, VCR, Cassettes, Windows 95, Vista, the original Gameboy, the NES, Floppy Disks, whatever instruments we use in any labs I've taken at college, the PS1, a TV with a dial, an old radio, and a push lawn mower.

...What the fuck, I'm not even 2 decades old here and I realize my childhood was shitty in terms of technology compared to today as well as a few things I'm forced to used now

 

[Space Spoons]

Tips and Tricks codebook. With the advent of achievements, cheat codes are going the way of the dodo, and with it, magazines that specialize in publishing those codes. I remember when I'd get a new codebook in the mail. I'd spend hours reading it, just pouring over the countless cheats and imagining their effects. I didn't own the vast majority of the games covered, of course, but it was still fun.

And, of course, any GTA: San Andreas veteran can attest to how valuable an up-to-date codebook could be. Everyone knew the standard health, weapon and armor cheats, but what about the really interesting ones? Flying cars, super-jumping, "every pedestrian is an Elvis impersonator", ninja mode... The codebook had you covered.

 

[megs1120]

My first game system was an atari.

I remember DOS! I remember having a test-based computer game.

I still use a VHS because I don't have a proper DVD recorder yet. I mean seriously, I can fit 6-8 hours on a VHS, only 2 hours on dvd! I remember going to the video store and having to remember not to rent BETA.

I had a record player when I was little.

I remember having 8-tracks.

Ah, dot-matrix printers. You could never print at night or you'd wake up the neighborhood. People making banners for special events and things.

I remember using card catalogs with cards.

Yes, I got the tape recording device from Home Alone 2. Never worked as well as the movie though.

I still buy music cds too.

I still own a computer on XP and ME.

I think my dad bought or used Zip technology... for about a week...

Man, I remember all that stuff, especially MS-DOS. I loved DOS, it was a pain in the ass but the games were so good!

Come to think of it, my parents still have a pair of Beta players in their basement.

 

[cabalistics]

I still have a black and white tv my uncle gave me. It's rather satisfying to turn the nobs as they make really big sounds

 

[Zaksav91]

Gah I think it would have to be the floppy disc as well as the VHS tapes. My room is still filled with a plethora of VHS tapes from some of my old recorded shows. Also the Gameboy Color, I still consider that my favorite handheld console, I have so many memories with it. But those floppy discs are my most hated, they broke all the time!

 

[Lovelocke]

Pay Phones. Dial-Up Modems for America Online... or better, for local BBSes. Door Games. Analog Video. Stand-Up Arcade Cabinets. Drive In Theaters. Plastic and Cardboard Milk Containers (Search: Tetra Pak)

 

[geon106]

I remember VHS, VCR, Cassettes, Windows 95, Vista, the original Gameboy, the NES, Floppy Disks, whatever instruments we use in any labs I've taken at college, the PS1, a TV with a dial, an old radio, and a push lawn mower.

...What the fuck, I'm not even 2 decades old here and I realize my childhood was shitty in terms of technology compared to today as well as a few things I'm forced to used now

Isn't VHS and VCR kinda the same thing?

I remember:

VHS, I remember them so much. And how confused and kinda weirded out I was when I was 5 and i'd eject a video to be covered in tape as our player was broke(Someone put a biscuit in it.... not me... honest)

Floppy Disk, hmm, installing Office 98 from its 30 odd disks to get to disk 28 and an error to occour, then to start over again

Amiga, my first computer was an Amiga A500 when I was 4. I loved it so much. I wish they were still made

Windows 95, my first experience with PC's was when Windows 95 was new out, it was quite amazing

IPX networking over 10BASE2, ah the joys of spending an hour getting 2 computers to network only to find out that the coaxial network cable has come lose somewhere along the connection

Dial-up internet. I miss hearing my external Motorola 56k modem dialling out. Although our first connection to the internet was an internal 33k modem dialling out to Compuserve at 25p a minute. Trying to play Quake online was pretty hard on larger matches. It was in 2002 when I got broadband at a whopping 512kbps, I look at my 50mbps fibre-optic connection now and it amazes me how far the technology has come

Dot-Matrix printers, never owned one.. i don't think we ever owned one? We had a Canon Bubblejet with our Amiga but i think thats Inkjet based. But i loved the noise of dot-matrix

I remember when it was MSN not WLM

I remember when WAP came out back in the late 90's. Was expensive, slow and primitive. My Sagem MY3020 was one of the earlier WAP enabled phones and my god I hardly ever used WAP, £10 credit gone after an hour or so. Also Polyphonic ringtones, when the first coloured screens came out. The launch of 3G in the UK on the 3/3/03 with video calling which was so expensive and choppy

BBC Micro computers, used on in Primary School and loved it

ZX Spectrum, we had one when i was young but sadly, it broke when i was about 4 so can't really remember it well but can recal some good games on it

I'm 21 and the world I grew up with has evolved. Both for the better and worse. someone said "i'm still using Windows ME and XP" That's hardly ancient. I have a computer running XP for backwards compatibility and at my work we use XP for obvious reasons

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

a computer with windows 98. Good times, when the best game out there was doom 2. Ah good stuff.

98? You young whippersnappers don't know what obsolete technology is! Back in my day, we had 95, and we were lucky if we could get any game more complicated than solitaire! (Actually, there was Chip's challenge, which was awesome!)

What else? The original game boy, the sega game gear (got it for 50p in a car boot sale), VHS tapes (which I still use, if only to watch Star Wars), 3 1/2 inch floppy disks....

How, at 20 years old, has so much technology from my childhood become so horrendously dated?

Scary isn't it. Just think what our generation will be like when we're elderly. Goodbye current stereotype.

 

[Samwise137]

Oh yeah, VHS tapes... man, I haven't watched one of those in ages. I used to have a massive stash of videos before DVDs became really cheap.

Hell, I STILL use VHS tapes. My parents are too cheap to buy a DVR so if I want to watch last night's rerun of Iron Chef (the original from Japan), I have to tape it! Oh and don't buy CD's. Vinyl FTW! I also remember playing Batman on my Dad's Commodore 64 and my GameBoy Original still works great.